the springtime of our youth
by The Crownless Queen
Summary: "How do you feel," Lavender asks, "about becoming an Animagus?" / For Lo.


Written for Hogwarts' History of Magic, Task #4: Write about someone becoming an animagus, and the form they take. You cannot write about anyone who we know to be an animagus.

Also for the Writing Club: Character Appreciation: 11. [Animal] Cat, Disney Challenge: S3 Trust In Me - Use the dialogue: "Just trust me.", Dark Lady's Diabolical Lair: 8 - Secret, Showtime 11: The Point of No Return - (dialogue) "No going back now.", Lyric Alley 23 - You get excited, Ami's Audio Admirations 3 - Campus Security — (trait) brave, Emy's Emporium 3 - Flitwick: write about someone who defies stereotypes, Lo's Lowdown, C4: Toph -. write about someone who is underestimated, Bex's Bazaar 4: The BFG - Write about someone being brave.

And August Auction: ParvatiLavender, Sewing 101: Selling, for Lo.

And for Sapphic September (on tumblr), Day 7: cat.

Thanks to Amber for betaing!

 _Word count:_ 2195

* * *

 _ **the springtime of our youth**_

"I was wondering what that smell was."

Parvati's voice, coming so suddenly, startled Lavender so badly that she almost dropped a handful of leeches in her potion instead of two, which would have ruined her work quite thoroughly. Luckily, it was the last thing she needed to add before the next step, so she set the potion to simmer and turned around.

Parvati huffed out a laugh at her girlfriend's scowl and leaned forward to kiss her hello. When she pulled back, Lavender's scowl had morphed into a smile — though she immediately tried to erase it when she saw Parvati looking.

"I didn't hear you come in," Lavender stated defensively.

Parvati shrugged, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "You were probably just busy." She nodded toward the cauldron with interest and sat down on the bench next to Lavender. It wobbled a little — no doubt a reminder that Transfiguration had always been more Parvati's strength than Lavender's. "What's this, now? Another invention of yours?"

Lavender shook her head, her lips pulling up into a small smile as her eyes wandered back toward the position. "No," she said. She looked back into Parvati's warm, brown eyes, and took a deep breath. "How do you feel," she asked, "about becoming an Animagus?"

Parvati's eyes widened. "You're insane."

Lavender laughed. "You knew that already. Just trust me; I can make this work."

"Oh, trusting you isn't the issue," Parvati said, shaking her head fondly. "You're the best Potion Master I know, of course, I trust you."

Lavender smiled, pleased. "You know I'm not a real Potion Master, though."

Parvati just rolled her eyes. "And you know I think that's rubbish — you're amazing at Potions."

Lavender's smile widened, her lips twitching with amusement. "But?"

Parvati huffed out a laugh. "But are you sure this is a good idea?"

Lavender let out a mock-offended gasp. "When have my ideas ever been anything else?"

"I can think of a few times," Parvati answered drolly, sending Lavender a dubious look.

"Is that a no?" Lavender smirked, knowing it wouldn't be. And as she had thought, Parvati huffed again.

"Damn you," she said. "Of course it's a yes!"

.

Parvati had known that the Animagus Potion was complicated. Professor McGonagall had mentioned it a few times over the years, and Snape had done the same, though that was usually used to discourage them.

It made sense, though. If the potion was easy to prepare, there'd probably be many more Animagi than there were.

But there was a difference between 'knowing' that a potion was difficult to brew, and _seeing it_.

Parvati had always been good at Potions — well, as good as anyone learning under Snape could get. Compared to Lavender, though? She was rubbish at them.

It was a shame, she'd often thought, that people always took one look at Lavender, saw the ditzy, girly personality and wrote her off as an idiotic, brainless girl. It was infuriating — even more so, perhaps, since Lavender didn't care.

Well, Parvati cared.

"I don't understand why you don't want to get a proper Mastery," she said as she watched Lavender stir the Potion slowly.

It was a little hard to speak with the mandrake leaf stuck to her palate, but over the past weeks, Parvati had gotten used to it. Well, as used to it as she could, anyway — she'd be glad to be rid of it, and she knew Lavender would be too.

Without taking her eyes off the potion, Lavender shrugged. "It's not that I don't _want_ to," she said, then paused.

Truth was, Lavender's reasons for not wanting an official title, even though she loved brewing potions and even though it would make her life easier, were hard to express, even simply to herself.

"I just… I like _brewing_ ," she said. "It's relaxing. I don't want to have to stress over getting a Mastery and getting published."

Parvati bit back a snort — to her, Potions, where any little detail being just the slightest bit off could result in varying levels of _deadly,_ weren't 'relaxing' at all.

Lavender turned around just long enough to roll her eyes at her girlfriend. "I know you don't think so, and I used to think the same. But after…" She swallowed thickly and stirred the potion a little more energetically than needed. "After the Battle… Well, you know." She fell silent, tears prickling at her eyes.

Silently, Parvati put a hand on Lavender's shoulder, squeezing it gently. She bent down and pressed a kiss against her hair too, just because she could, and because Lavender loved it.

She knew what Lavender was referring too — those terrible hours where Parvati had thought Lavender was dead, followed by terrible months where _Lavender_ had wished she was.

She hadn't become a werewolf, but Lavender's skin bore the scars of one, and that much damage had been hard and slow to heal.

It had been a Healer's suggestion for Lavender to find something to do as a kind of therapy for her mutilated hands, and Lavender had ended up requisitioning half their kitchen as a Potion lab the very day she had gotten out of the hospital.

Lavender had always liked Potions, and she had always been good at them, but she had only truly started to experiment then.

It hadn't been the safest thing — probably still wasn't — but it had managed to bring back the smile to Lavender's lips that Parvati had been unable to, and for that, Parvati would forgive Lavender anything.

Even an entire month of sucking on a foul-tasting plant, as it turned out.

.

"What do you want to be?" Lavender asked Parvati one day, out of the blue.

They were walking around in Diagon Alley, hand in hand, browsing and perusing shops and overall not doing much actual shopping.

Parvati, who had just been talking about how her last week of training to become a Hit Witch was going, arched an eyebrow.

Lavender blushed and shoved her gently. "You know, what _animal_ would you like to be? If you _could_ become one?"

"Hypothetically?" Parvati asked, smirking.

Lavender shrugged innocently. "Of course."

Huffing out a laugh, Parvati replied, "I don't know. Maybe some kind of bird? I think I'd like being able to fly."

"But you're _terrible_ at flying," Lavender said, aghast.

Parvati scowled. "That's on a _broom_." She started to cross her arms, remembered she was still holding Lavender's hand, stopped, and scowled harder. "I'm sure with actual wings I'd do much better."

"Right." Lavender's lips twitched. "Of course."

"Well, what about you then? What do you want to be?"

Lavender hummed, her eyes falling to their joined hands.

Parvati had such lovely hands. A little callused — more now than they'd used to be, back at Hogwarts — but the skin was still so very soft to the touch. Lavender could hold them all day.

"It's a secret," she finally said, looking up, and she laughed when Parvati sputtered in frustration.

.

Once the Potion was ready, they stored it in the bottom of Parvati's old school trunk.

"I didn't even realize we still had it," Parvati had said when Lavender had unearthed it.

"Even more reason to use it for this," Lavender had retorted, not even bothering to bite back her laughter. "We can be sure it won't be disturbed there, and that the Potion won't see any sunlight."

Parvati had looked at the uniforms she hadn't seen in years, and she had snorted. "Yeah, somehow I don't think that will be a problem."

As expected, it hadn't been, and now they could take out the two crystal phials safely.

"You know, I never realized that this would be so complicated," Parvati mused aloud, eyeing the liquid sloshing around in the vial dubiously.

The air in the empty field they had chosen for this was crisp, but not too cold. They had gotten lucky — tonight was an electrical storm night, and they only had had to wait for a few weeks. A few more, and they would have been well into winter, and the night would have been far less kind to them.

"If it was easy," Lavender countered with an easy smile, "everybody would do it."

Parvati snorted. "Point taken. So, bottom's up?"

"Spell first," Lavender corrected, even though Parvati probably didn't need to reminder. They had practiced the spell often enough — every morning and every night since the full moon they had put the phials away. "But there's no going back now."

"No going back now," Parvati echoed, readying herself.

When the lightning finally came, it felt like she could feel it reaching down to her bones, making her hair stand on ends. The Potion in the phials turned blood red, and with a racing heart, Parvati turned her wand on herself.

" _Amato Animo Animato Animagus_ ," she recited. She had to bite back a shiver at the odd yet familiar feeling of that second heartbeat echoing in her ribcage, and with one last look Lavender's way, she emptied out the crystal phial and let it fall.

Changing didn't hurt. Parvati wasn't sure why, but she had expected it to hurt, at least the first time, but it's didn't. It just felt natural, like slipping on new clothes.

Even if those new clothes came with feathers and a pair of wings she wasn't quite sure what to do with yet.

She hopped around a little, trying to get used to the difference in weight and size, and her eyes fell on Lavender's new form.

She was gorgeous. A cat — and really, it was perfect, Parvati was kind of miffed she hadn't thought to guess that — with long, fluffy grey fur that looked almost silver. The grey was mixed with white too, which Parvati was willing to bet represented the scars Lavender still had — but it only made her fur more striking.

Lavender was quick, too. Parvati barely had time to notice her that she had already dashed forward, bumping against Parvati's new body and quite literally ruffling her feathers.

Cats didn't laugh, but this one was grinning — and when she dashed away, Parvati gave chase.

Eventually, the storm moved closer. It was like the heavens opened — litter after litter of water poured down on them, and they had to switch back so they could Apparate back home.

They were soaking wet but still laughing when they stumbled through their front door, water dripping from their clothes.

"I can't believe you were hiding that you wanted to be a _cat_ ," Parvati managed to say through her shattering teeth.

"I wanted it to be a surprise." Lavender shrugged. "Besides, there was no guarantee I would _become a cat_."

"But you hoped you would."

Lavender blushed. She conjured two towels and offered one to Parvati, wrapping hers around her hair so it would at least stop dripping down her back.

"Of course," she found herself saying. "You like cats."

Parvati's heart tripped up in her chest. "I like _you_. You don't have to be a cat for that."

Lavender's blush darkened. "I know," she mumbled. "I just thought it'd be nice, that's all."

"Well, you make a gorgeous cat."

Lavender preened. "Really?"

"Yes, really," Parvati replied, rolling her eyes. "Stop fishing for compliments."

Lavender's lips twitched as she gasped in mock shock. "I would _never_."

"Of course not." Parvati snorted. She stepped out of her wet shoes and wriggled her toes with a barely restrained frown of disgust.

"Well, you got the wings you wanted," Lavender countered, changing the subject.

Parvati grinned. "Yes! Did you see? Didn't I tell you so?"

"You did, you did." Lavender laughed. "I'm sorry, I should have believed you. You made a magnificent swan."

"Was that what I was?" Parvati blinked in surprise. She hadn't had any particular guess other than 'big and feathered' since she'd known Lavender would just tell her what she was later, but still, she had never really considered swans as an option.

Lavender hummed in agreement. "It suits you — pretty, but vicious in a fight."

Parvati was about to thank her when a violent shiver cut her off.

Lavender eyed her worriedly. "Are you alright?"

Parvati nodded. "I'm fine, I'm fine. Just a little cold — and you know, still wet," she said, plucking at her clothes with a disgusted pout.

"I see." Lavender paused for a beat, then two. "Last one to the bathroom does the dishes tomorrow?" And without waiting, she shifted into her new Animagus firm and sprinted toward the shower, cackling madly inwardly as Parvati cursed after her.

"Don't think," Parvati said as she finally reached the bathroom, gasping for breath and scowling, minutes after Lavender had, "that you will get away with this more than once."

Lavender shrugged innocently. "I'm sure I have no idea what you mean, dear."

Parvati's eyes narrowed, and Lavender felt a sudden thrill in her stomach.

Clearly, Parvati felt the same way, because she smiled — baring far more teeth than was proper — and said, "Start the shower then, _dear_."

Shivering, and unable to stop smiling, Lavender did.


End file.
